


Crash, but No Burn

by mortenavida



Series: Tony Stark Bingo 2019 [5]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Crash Landing, Hospitalization, M/M, Not Beta Read, Rating for Language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-16
Updated: 2019-03-16
Packaged: 2019-11-18 19:37:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18125588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mortenavida/pseuds/mortenavida
Summary: Tony and Nebula found a way to Earth and it wasn't the... best landing. But Tony got to wake up to Steve's face, so it wasn't that bad.





	Crash, but No Burn

**Author's Note:**

> Sequel to [Out of Gas](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17858096) \-- this is part 2! A yummy sex-filled part 3 will be up eventually. This is part of two separate bingos, sorry!
> 
> Tony Stark Bingo Square T1 - Voice

The last thing Tony wanted to do was let Nebula fly the space ship into the Earth’s atmosphere, but he had to admit that she had a better survival percentage than he did. She was mostly robot, he was a fleshy human, so into the most secure part of the ship he would need to go. A windowless thing they covered into the only pillows and blankets they had just so he (hopefully) wouldn’t get injured in the landing. The small space made him panic for a minute until he closed his eyes and let the nanobots cover his head so he could pretend he was in the suit. And, honestly, give him extra head protection.

“Brace!” Nebula yelled, but Tony knew better than to press his arms to the side of his coffin. Stiff joints meant broken bones. He hugged himself instead, making sure to put one hand over the still-healing wound that Thanos dealt him.

The ship shook as they touched down on what Tony assumed was water. He couldn’t hear much from his position, but he could hear that much; a splash was hard to misinterpret. Still, it wasn’t the easiest landing and his body banged around in the small space. One sharp turn and his feet left the floor, ramming his head into the ceiling hard enough for Tony to let out a curse before everything went black.

A steady beep of a heart monitor was the first thing Tony heard next. It was jarring — part of him expected to still be flung around the container until he came out mangled, but a heart monitor was promising. He tried to flex his fingers and groaned as a sharp pain jolted down his left arm. He was starting to wonder if Barnes wouldn’t mind sharing his space in the Metal Arm Club; he was tired of constantly injuring it.

Another beep sounded, followed by a shuffle of feet. Tony tried to open his mouth, but a feeding tube was in the way and he had to hold back the impulse to gag. _Fuck_ he hated hospitals.

“Mister Stark?”

The voice was unfamiliar and Tony just groaned again. It wasn’t long after that more voices joined, repeating information about his vitals and explaining things too fast for him to comprehend at the moment. Tony kept flexing his right hand (since that didn’t hurt so much) until a strong, calloused hand grasped his own, squeezing gently. Tony held tight as the doctors continued to move around him, one eventually leaning over to explain that they were removing the tube from his throat.

Though his eyes were already closed, Tony squeezed them shut as the tube scraped out of his throat. He licked his lips once and then the bed was tilting up. A straw was placed against his lips and Tony greedily drank, water feeling like liquid gold as it soothed his parched throat.

He was _alive_.

“Tony?”

And that voice, _his_ voice, one he didn’t think he’d ever hear again. Tony sucked in a breath and squeezed his hand tighter. If he opened his eyes and it wasn’t Steve, Tony was going to wish he died in that stupid spaceship.

“Tony, it’s okay. You’re back on Earth.” Steve’s other hand rested on Tony’s leg — Tony could feel the heat through the blanket and gown they had him in. “Can you open your eyes? The doctors left, it’s just us. Can you do that for me?”

He was stronger than this. Tony let out another breath before blinking his eyes open. The stale room wasn’t as bright as he thought it would be and he was glad that the lights had been dimmed. Sure enough, to his right sat Steve Rogers. A light scruff of a beard hugged his chin and Tony had to hold back the smile at it; he never thought he’d see Steve with facial hair.

God, it had been too long.

Steve shushed him as he opened his mouth to speak. “You were hurt bad in the crash,” he explained. “It’s been a week since you and Nebula landed.”

A week? _Fuck_.

“She explained what you guys went through on Titan. After Titan.” He let out a breath, looking down at their joined hands. “God, Tony, I just… I saw the news that you disappeared after the spaceship and I knew then that it was going to be bad. I just didn’t realize _how_ bad.”

Tony tugged on Steve’s hand to get his attention, then shook his head. “It’s… okay…” he croaked out, wincing at his own voice.

“It isn’t,” Steve insisted before looking down again. “I got your message. As soon as the ship hit the atmosphere, it came in and I…”

The atmosphere was when Tony put the helmet on, that made sense. He went to remove his hand from Steve’s grasp, but Steve held firm. The Captain’s shoulders straightened as he sat up in the probably uncomfortable hospital chair.

“It was always you too, Tony. I know we still have a lot to work out because of Bucky, but he deserved justice. You know that right? You understand that?”

Tony did, and his shame over how he acted was the main reason he never used that phone to contact Steve. He just nodded, heart skipping a beat at the smile that Steve gave him after.

“When you’re better, I want to sit down and talk it out with you. Actually get this out between us so we can move on to better things. Together.”

Better things weren’t going to happen completely until _after_ they defeated Thanos, but Tony knew that Steve knew that. He lifted Steve’s hand to kiss his knuckles, a gentle promise of what they could be together. Steve did one better; he leaned forward and gently pressed their lips together.

The world might be fucked, but Tony finally felt as if he could have his own happy ending.


End file.
